[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-199422-en":3,"doc-seo-199422-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},199422,1099514068035,"Ezra","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",1,"Story & Novel","Fish Cheeks - Essay Questions and Writing Suggestions","“Fish Cheeks” presents a teenage narrator’s painful clash between Chinese identity and American expectations during a Christmas Eve dinner with the minister’s family. Through vivid, sensory descriptions of traditional foods, the story tracks embarrassment, family customs, and a young girl’s attempt to disappear during the meal. The mother’s later explanation reveals the deeper lesson about pride, difference, and belonging. The guide also includes meaning, writing strategy, and language questions.","Fish Cheeks  \nAmy Tan  \nI fell in love with the minister's son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger. For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose.  \nWhen I found out that my parents had invited the minister's family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappoint-ment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?  \nOn Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshy prawns. The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food: A slimy rock cod with bulging eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. Tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges. A bowl soaking dried fungus back to life. A plate of squid, their backs crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires.  \nAnd then they arrived – the minister's family and all my relatives in a clamor of doorbells and rumpled Christmas packages. Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence.  \nDinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food. Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them. My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert grimaced. Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat. \"Amy, your favorite,\" he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear.  \nAt the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. \"It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied,\" explained my father to our astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a reddened face. The minister managed to muster up a quiet burp. I was stunned into silence for the rest ofthe night.  \nAfter everyone had gone, my mother said to me, \"You want to be the same as American girls on the outside.\" She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt in beige tweed. \"But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.\"  \nAnd even though I didn't agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during the evening's dinner. It wasn't until many year later – long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert – that I was able to fully appreciate her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.  \nQuestions on Meaning  \n1. Why does Tan cry when she finds out that the boy she is in love with is coming to dinner?  \n2. Why does Tan's mother go out of her way to prepare a disturbingly traditional Chinese dinner for her daughter and guests? What one sentence best sums up the lesson Tan was not able to understand until years later?  \n3. How does the fourteen-year-old Tan feel about her Chinese background? about her mother?  \n4. What is Tan's purpose in writing this essay? Does she just want to entertain readers, or might she have a weightier goal?  \nQuestions on Writing Strategy  \n1. How does Tan draw the reader into her story right from the beginning?  \n2. How does Tan use transitions both to drive and to clarify her narrative?  \n3. What is the irony of the last sentence of the essay?  \n4. Paragraph 3 is a passage of pure description. Why does Tan linger over the food? What is the effect of this paragraph?  \nQuestions on Language  \n1. The simile about Mary in the second sentence of the essay is surprising. Why? Why is it amusing?  \n2. How does the narrator's age affect the tone of this essay? Give examples of language ","cbCaic1sd2an2JPZ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaic1sd2an2JPZ","pdf",121211,5,2,"English","en",105,"# Questions on Meaning\n## Questions on Writing Strategy\n## Questions on Language\n## Suggestions for Writing","[{\"question\":\"Why does Tan cry when she learns the minister’s family will be at dinner?\",\"answer\":\"She fears what Robert will think of their “shabby” Chinese Christmas and their traditional Chinese food. She expects disappointment and humiliation.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does Tan’s mother prepare a traditional Chinese dinner for her daughter and guests?\",\"answer\":\"She wants Tan to stay connected to being Chinese while navigating American surroundings. The mother’s later lesson explains the purpose behind the special menu.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Tan keep the reader engaged from the beginning and what is the effect of the detailed food description?\",\"answer\":\"She opens with an immediate love story and high emotional stakes, then builds tension through transitions. In the food-focused paragraph, her lingering detail heightens embarrassment and makes the cultural contrast vivid.\"}]","Fish Cheeks - Essay Questions and Writing Suggestions | PDF",1788505932,3,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":28},"fish-cheeks-essay-questions-and-writing-suggestions","",{"@graph":36,"@context":84},[37,52,67],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,49],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":29},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/fish-cheeks-essay-questions-and-writing-suggestions/199422/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":41,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-06","2026-09-04",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"Why does Tan cry when she learns the minister’s family will be at dinner?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"She fears what Robert will think of their “shabby” Chinese Christmas and their traditional Chinese food. She expects disappointment and humiliation.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"Why does Tan’s mother prepare a traditional Chinese dinner for her daughter and guests?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"She wants Tan to stay connected to being Chinese while navigating American surroundings. The mother’s later lesson explains the purpose behind the special menu.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"How does Tan keep the reader engaged from the beginning and what is the effect of the detailed food description?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"She opens with an immediate love story and high emotional stakes, then builds tension through transitions. 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